Grant to help Kelley accounting professor conduct research across the globe

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Sam Tiras, assistant professor of accounting, has received a $15,000 grant from the IU International Research Development Fund to further his research on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and corporate sustainability.

Tiras will use the grant to conduct in-person research across the globe, adding valuable insight not only to his academic research, but to the knowledge he will provide in the classroom, as well.

“It’s hard to understand how things work globally by sitting in my office in Indianapolis,” explained Tiras. “This will provide me with an opportunity to delve deeper, giving me a greater depth of understanding, which enhances the quality of my research and what I can impart on our Kelley students here in Indianapolis.”

Within the next several months, Tiras will speak with practitioners, CPAs and regulators, in Spain, Australia and South Africa, all to better understand the implications of adopting IFRS
and the implications with international sustainability: a push by organizations to be more socially and environmentally conscious and reduce their footprints.

“When countries adopt IFRS, they have a choice as to how to adopt it,” explained Tiras. “They could completely overhaul their local standards, which means local compliance reporting would be tied to the international standards. The only issue with that is that you’re turning over your compliance reporting to a global body. Other countries maintained their prior standards for local reporting.”

“Sustainability reporting is now going hand in hand with financial reporting,” he added. “There’s a big push toward integrated financial statements. I believe if I’m going to learn more about the adoption of IFRS at that time, I also need to learn more about the details with sustainability from the regulator’s point of view.”

“Countries like South Africa require much greater sustainability disclosures than other countries. So I need to understand the issues that arise when you have local and consolidated standards that are aligned and not aligned, and what that means for sustainability.”

Tiras plans to visit South Africa this summer, and Australia and Madrid this fall.